Key events
65 mins. Wales couldn’t, could they? The continuing attempt at doing so has them overworking it on halfway before the ball inevitably pops loose under pressure. McCarthy, off the bench and looking every inch the werewolf who was adopted by D4 parents and sent to a good school, kicks a grubber into space. Edwards covers and does enough to move away from his own line.
TRY! Ireland 19 – 17 Wales (James Botham)
62 mins. Wales have ball and phases in the 22, which Ireland are containing until Mann blasts forward to force the defence onto the back foot. The next phase is close to the left goalpost and Botham decides it’s simpler to ram over from a few inches out. He’s proven correct.
Edwards converts and it’s tight as you like once more.
60 mins. At the next scrum, Furlong remains fuming at Smith, which is not helped when the Welsh loose-head forces him to pop up again. Wales have a five metre line out and Furlong has been replaced because – as any dad doing some frustrating DIY will recognise – his level of anger has officially become counter-productive.
57 mins. Furlong pops up in the scrum under pressure for Nicky Smith. The Irish prop doesn’t take it well, chucks him on the floor and a medium-well done scuffle kicks off. After it all settles down Wales have a penalty and force a knock-on from Ringrose after Edwards punts one high into the 22.
A break in play leads to Sweet Caroline being sung by the crowd.
Burn it down. Burn it all down.
56 mins. A few minutes of very little happening, but Ireland start to gather momentum around halfway. Gibson-Park chips over the top for McCloskey who can’t regather, allowing Rees-Zammit to nearly boot another 50:22 but for Crowley’s last minute cover in backfield.
51 mins. After Beirne dangles his paw deliberately in the path of a Williams pass, Edwards finds touch from the resulting penalty. The possession is won under pressure and worked into midfield. Two phases later Lake has another situation where he carries away from his support/support doesn’t go with him (delete to taste) and he’s held up. This awards an Ireland scrum that they win a penalty from.
A frustrating couple of minutes for the visitors, but credit to Ireland who were amongst them right from the lineout.
49 mins. Josh Adams finds himself in space near the left touchline; he has Botham outside him, but the pass is wayward and into touch. The ball is soon back in Welsh hands after a poor bit of work from Ireland after the lineout but the ball is spilled forward on the 22 to ruin a decent position for the visitors.
48 mins. Solid possession is won from the lineout for Wales, and Edwards decides to put a contestable kick up, which again neither team claim at first effort, but Ireland are first to the loose ball, this time GIbson-Park.
However, in the midst of it a Wales player was tackled while innocent of the ball in the eyes of the ref.
46 mins. A regulation restart gather, two carries and kick to touch from Ireland presents Wales with a lineout on the 10 metre line.
TRY! Irelanad 19 – 10 Wales (Jack Conan)
44 mins. Alex Mann gives away a penalty in the 22 after a good move for Ireland nearly has Balacoune away on the right. I think it was something to do with him gobbing off, but didn’t quite catch it.
The tap and go is taken and Conan drives over. The try is given on the field, but the TMO thinks there’s a hint of obstruction by Kelleher, plus a hint of spilled grounding.
Ref Dickson has a look an disagrees on both counts. Try given, conversion slotted.
42 mins. Gibson-Park puts a steepler up in the air off his right boot that Stockdale chases and jumps underneath, missing it completely. This presents the ball to Edwards who slaps it forward.
High quality stuff, you can’t deny. <plays Laurel & Hardy theme tune>
Second Half!
The ball is back in play, and so are we.
“You are of course correct that a big man try should be worth extra points.” confirms Ben Mimmack. “My shout of delight as Carre broke through scared my (feline) co-worker and I now have a scratch on my hand. Worth it.”
In a just world, a prop scoring a try the likes of which Rhys Carre just did, would mean the immediate award of 75 points.
I will not be taking any questions.
Ireland are clearly a team that is more than two points better than this Wales performance. But, a combination of some Irish imprecision and lack of composure at some key moments, plus Wales’s refusal to fold as they may have done previously, means we have the makings of an interesting match on our hands.
The home side still look too strong when they put the runners on, however, and in the end that should be enough.
Half time!
PEEEEEEEP! That glorious site was the major act of the first forty.
TRY! Ireland 12 – 10 Wales (Rhys Carre)
41 mins. Well, what a marvellous spectacle this is. Carre, the big ginger prop forward, takes the ball in the 13 channel on the left, throws a hybrid dummy-handoff on Balacoune and steps through the gap to romp like an reanimated oil rig to the line from 20 metres!
Edwards converts it.
39 mins. A tidy restart gather by the home side is sent aerial by Crowley for a contestable kick to chase. Adams can’t quite grasp it and there’s an Irish knock-on in the melee afterwards and Wales will have a scrum just inside Ireland’s have to launch one last attack this half.
TRY! Ireland 12 – 3 Wales (Jack Crowley)
37 mins. Another penalty against Wales, once again for offside in midfield presents Ireland with possession that they quickly move into the 22. They make no mistake this time, Crowley chucking a dummy in the 13 channel and walking over.
He then completely shanks his conversion.
33 mins. Conan has a crashing dart from the back of the scrum which fires the starting gun on more hammering runs from close in for Ireland. The try looks like it will just be a matter of time, but Gibson-Park dallies a little and his pass right is spotted and snaffled by Alex Mann to intercept.
A fabulous defensive read from Mann, but you have to say Ireland made a mess of that as the line was begging with a bit more composure.
31 mins. Five metres out and 12 phases in, Ireland are hammering away toward the Wales line – a track they’ve had on repeat all half. It is just about stopped by Wales, but Ireland have a 5m scrum to go again.
29 mins. The midfield runs and offloads has the Wales defence scrambling and James cannot stop himself ebing offside in his attempt to stem the attack. Ireland will have a lineout on the Wales 22.
26 mins. The scrum doesn’t go Ireland’s way as Kelleher is pinged for not hooking the ball. Wales tap and go quickly but after a few promising attacking patterns they quickly become disjointed, leaving Lake isolated on a run. This is all the opportunity Beirne needs to execute his more muscular version of the bend and snap to whip the ball.
24 mins. The long drop-out is returned by Wainwright with one of his rollicking carries. He is stopped by the green wall and soon after the ball is spilled forward. Ireland have a scrum midway in their own half as they seek to stem this mini patch of decent Welsh pressure.
22 mins. Back Wales come through hard carries and it’s putting significant pressure on the Ireland defence, who respond by repeatedly infringing at the ruck. The latest of which has Doris receiving a warning that the next will be a card.
The penalty is tapped and popped to Carre who smashes over, but enough green shirts get under him to hold up the ball.
20 mins. The bigger hits from Wales are allowing ruck defender to go at the ball, which Hawkins does to win a brilliant turnover. A big kick is lauched to clear the Welsh lines which stays in play and is hunted down by a dedicated chase from the visitors. Alex Mann then wins a penalty by another nifty bit of ruck work.
Edwards spurns the posts and goes for the corner.
18 mins. Ireland are back into the 22 as their runners are multiple and forceful, as they have been all game so far. Wales do summon up some effort to drive them back with a visible increase in tackle intensity.
PENALTY! Ireland 7 – 3 Wales (Dan Edwards)
15 mins. Ireland are loose with their passing and this give Rees-Zammit the opportunity to angle a delightful 50:22 kick into Ireland territory. The home defence are offside by the backline creeping too close to the lineout, which give a penalty to Wales bang in front, twenty metres out. Edwards wastes no time slotting it.
“Has there been an announcement as to why Wales are in white rather than traditional red? I appreciate that this might help with red-green colourblindness, but are any of the players or officials colourblind?” wonders Andy Flintoff (not that one)
It’s to do with colourblindess inclusivity policy from World Rugby, Andy, which is less concerned with players on the field and etc and more the incidence of the condition in the millions watching.
11 mins. The home side find themselves back in the 22 with relative ease, double figures phase once more taking them to within three metres. Wales drift offside, but no matter as Conan simply muscles over from a pop pass near the ruck and score what he thinks is a try.
Ref Dickson thought it was as well, but TMO Jackon reckons he’s spotted a knock on in the ruck… NO TRY!
9 mins. Some to-ing and fro-ing in the middle third, with little composure from either side comes to an end when Gibson-Park lobs a pass behind Stockdale into touch on halfway. Wales win the lineout, but some flabby passing and running in midfield coughs the ball back to Ireland once more.
Forgot to tell you who the officials are for the match.
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia), Damian Schneider (Argentina)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (England)
TRY! Ireland 7 – 0 Wales (Jacob Stockdale)
6 mins. The ball is won by Ireland and they work up to the 11 phases, moving left with some big McCloskey carries, before returning to the shadow of the posts. The ball is moved short to Stockdale off his wing to go over close to the posts.
Crowley converts.
4 mins. Edward tries to find space behind the Ireland defence with a kick, but he puts at least one too many Weetabix into it and it rolls dead. The error is compounded when Wales collapse the scrum way back where he kicked it to concede a penalty. Crowley punts it to touch on the 22.
2 mins. Wales win a cleanish lineout after Gibson-Park finds touch after the restart. The ball is into midfield for a Wainwright carry before Tomos Williams dallies a bit and puts Edwards in trouble with a pass. The ball is loose, but secured by a retreating Carre close to his 22.
Kick Off!
Dan Edwards sends the ball skyward and it’s action time.
The teams are out of the tunnel and await the pre-match formalities, which involves Presidential glad-handing and an extra anthem.
Brendan Fanning has been assessing Wales’s chances in this here fixture
Get in touch, why don’t you?
I look forward to receiving your views on the action and more besides on the email. Keep them coming.
Team news.
Andy Farrell makes five changes to the team that humped England. In the backs, Jacob Stockdale comes in on the wing for the injured James Lowe. Up front, Tom O’Toole starts in place of Jeremy Loughman, while Ronan Kelleher replaces Dan Sheehan at hooker. Jack Conan returns to the back row, where he’ll partner Nick Timoney whose form off the bench has rewarded him an openside berth, moving Josh van der Flier to the bench. Tadhg Beirne shifts back into the second row, with Joe McCarthy named among the replacements.
Wales coach Steve Tandy introduces three new selections after the narrow Scotland defeat. Dan Edwards returns at fly‑half with the perenially unlucky Sam Costelow unavailable, and Ellis Mee starts on the wing in place of Gabriel Hamer‑Webb. In the pack, James Botham replaces the injured Taine Plumtree. The bench features Louie Hennessey of Bath, who is in line for his first cap when called upon.
Teams
Ireland
15 Jamie Osborne, 14 Robert Baloucoune, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park; 1 Tom O’Toole, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 4 James Ryan, 5 Tadhg Beirne, 6 Jack Conan, 7 Nick Timoney, 8 Caelan Doris.
Replacements: 16 Tom Stewart, 17 Michael Milne, 18 Thomas Clarkson, 19 Joe McCarthy, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Nathan Doak, 22 Tom Farrell, 23 Ciaran Frawley.
Wales
15 Louis Rees‑Zammit, 14 Ellis Mee, 13 Eddie James, 12 Joe Hawkins, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Tomos Williams; 1 Rhys Carre, 2 Dewi Lake, 3 Tomas Francis, 4 Dafydd Jenkins, 5 Ben Carter, 6 Alex Mann, 7 James Botham, 8 Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Adam Beard, 20 Olly Cracknell, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Louie Hennessey.
Preamble
It’s Friday night in Dublin and Ireland welcome Wales to the Aviva Stadium.
What a difference a week made prior to their performances in the previous round of matches; so imagine what the fortnight since could deliver. That will be the hope of the respective fans in anticipation of the game to come.
Ireland – all dynamism and nous in their dismantling of England, with more than a few outstanding individual performances thrown in – will surely look for a second record score on the bounce as par at home against the 2026 vintage of Wales.
For their part, Wales must continue their impressive feat vs Scotland of not looking like a touring rugby team that managed one training session after an 11 hour flight followed by an 11 hour drinking bender. They were so much better two weeks ago than at any time in the preceding one-hundred and two that any fall away from that is not acceptable. They still lost in Cardiff – as they will tonight most likely – but sometimes progress is measured in not receiving four yellow cards in a match and keeping it competitive for seventy minutes. It is what it is.
We’ll be off and running in an hour or so.